Yoshihiko Noda's election to resolve a political and social crisis
by Pino Cazzaniga
The new prime minister (who is also chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan) was voted in by the party "idealists", putting "Shogun" Ozawa in the minority, who frequently changed camps throughout his career and to date had always been victorious. The population seems appreciative.
Tokyo (AsiaNews) - Last week the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) elected its new president to replace Naoto Kan, who since June of 2010 had also held the post of prime minister. Finance minister, Yoshihiko Noda (54), won the vote to succeed him and was also welcomed as prime minister in the lower house. In my opinion the importance of the event is such that it is likely to far exceed the scope of a political party because, I believe, what is at stake is the solution of a serious political and social crisis.
A paradoxical election
The event has paradoxical aspects for at least two reasons: the small number of voters (398) and the short space of time given to preparation and the holding of the vote itself (three days). Of course, only active members take part in an internal party election, however ', in the case of the DPJ, there are several thousand. But according to the rules of the party, when the Diet (parliament) is in session, only the parliamentary party are entitled to vote: 398 in this case. The current parliamentary session closed on August 31, and subsequently the new party president had to be chosen at least two days before the closing of parliament: the leadership of the DPJ set the starting date for "campaigning" for Saturday, August 27 and vote for Monday, August 29.
None of the three pillars of the Party, Naoto Kan (65), Yukio Hatoyama (64) and Ichiro Ozawa (69), could apply, the first because he had just resigned, the second for resigned in 2010 over discussions with Obama about the presence of U.S. military base in Japan, criticised by many, the third, politically astute and effective, because he had been suspended from the party for accepting illegal political funding.
Long-overdue political issues
Japan, its people and leaders, is facing dramatic problems that the political class has too long ignored: the period during which these problems were exacerbated extends from 'March 11 to today. Lets summarize them: "the triple disaster" in the northeast: the earthquake and tsunami destroyed an area along 600 km of coastline and killed around 20 thousand people forcing hundreds of thousands to go into exile in various parts of Japan, the damage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant (same area), with leakage of harmful radiation, and finally, the rocketing valuation of the Yen, which hurts exports.
Towards a new political landscape
While acknowledging that the crisis is serious, seen in its historical context it can also be considered a crisis of social and economic growth. I will briefly indicate two dates and two names. The dates are 1955 and 2009 and the names chosen as elements of symbolic reference, are Seiji Maehara (49) and Ichiro Ozawa (69).
The Japanese, who emerged the losers in the Pacific War (1940-45), regained full jurisdiction over their country in 1952. After the war (1955), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was established and has ruled the country with an absolute majority, or, most recently, along with a few minor parties, until 2009.
Opposition parties, including the large socialist party, have never been able to undermine the government position.
But some members of the LDP left the party in 1998 and smaller parties came together to form the Democratic Party of Japan (Democratic Party of Japan: DPJ). Later also Ozawa, a prominent figure in the Ldp, left, forming his own small party, until, in 2003, has and his followers decided to join the DPJ. Here too quickly he assumed leadership roles until elected as president, a position he held from 2006 to 2009.
Ozawa dominates a group of 120 deputies. Therefore, his influence in recent presidential elections has been enormous. He was recently indicted by the prosecutor for having illegally acquired land in Tokyo and in September will face trial.
Ozawa’s first failure
The "shadow shogun", as Ozawa is called by the media, has had great influence on very recent elections for the president of the party, which, in Japan, are a prerequisite to apply for the post of prime minister.
The high number of candidates - five - is another element that contributes to the paradoxical nature of this election. In practice, only three had a chance to win. Seiji Maehara, the most popular, entered Parliament at 28.
Yoshihiko Noda (54), finance minister, a strong supporter of increased taxes to remedy the deterioration of public finances, and Banri Kaieda (62), head of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the most powerful ministries. Kaieda was the candidate supported by Ozawa.
From the outset it became clear that the contestants were divided into two groups: "pro-Ozawa" and "anti-Ozawa". In other words, the choice was between the "politics of numbers" and "political ideals". 200 votes or more were needed to secure victory. Since Osawa leads a group of 120 parliamentarians, most believed Kaieda’s victory was assured. And in fact, the result of the first vote justified the prediction: 143 votes for Kaieda and 102 for Noda. The result was reversed on the second ballot because Maehara, faithful to a prior agreement with Noda, transferred the votes of his constituents to Noda, who was then declared the winner with 215 votes to Kaieda’s 177.
Indirect participation of citizens
Since this was an internal party matter, the population did not participate directly in these elections. But judging by the number and quality of articles on the subject which appeared in all major newspapers and the hours dedicated to it by the major television and radio networks, it appears that the population followed the event with great interest and critical logic.
Every weekend parliamentarians leave their residences in the capital to spend the weekend in the cities and countries of origin where they have conversations with voters on the important political issues certainly such as the election of a new party president and head of the government .
A paradoxical election
The event has paradoxical aspects for at least two reasons: the small number of voters (398) and the short space of time given to preparation and the holding of the vote itself (three days). Of course, only active members take part in an internal party election, however ', in the case of the DPJ, there are several thousand. But according to the rules of the party, when the Diet (parliament) is in session, only the parliamentary party are entitled to vote: 398 in this case. The current parliamentary session closed on August 31, and subsequently the new party president had to be chosen at least two days before the closing of parliament: the leadership of the DPJ set the starting date for "campaigning" for Saturday, August 27 and vote for Monday, August 29.
None of the three pillars of the Party, Naoto Kan (65), Yukio Hatoyama (64) and Ichiro Ozawa (69), could apply, the first because he had just resigned, the second for resigned in 2010 over discussions with Obama about the presence of U.S. military base in Japan, criticised by many, the third, politically astute and effective, because he had been suspended from the party for accepting illegal political funding.
Long-overdue political issues
Japan, its people and leaders, is facing dramatic problems that the political class has too long ignored: the period during which these problems were exacerbated extends from 'March 11 to today. Lets summarize them: "the triple disaster" in the northeast: the earthquake and tsunami destroyed an area along 600 km of coastline and killed around 20 thousand people forcing hundreds of thousands to go into exile in various parts of Japan, the damage of the Fukushima nuclear power plant (same area), with leakage of harmful radiation, and finally, the rocketing valuation of the Yen, which hurts exports.
Towards a new political landscape
While acknowledging that the crisis is serious, seen in its historical context it can also be considered a crisis of social and economic growth. I will briefly indicate two dates and two names. The dates are 1955 and 2009 and the names chosen as elements of symbolic reference, are Seiji Maehara (49) and Ichiro Ozawa (69).
The Japanese, who emerged the losers in the Pacific War (1940-45), regained full jurisdiction over their country in 1952. After the war (1955), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was established and has ruled the country with an absolute majority, or, most recently, along with a few minor parties, until 2009.
Opposition parties, including the large socialist party, have never been able to undermine the government position.
But some members of the LDP left the party in 1998 and smaller parties came together to form the Democratic Party of Japan (Democratic Party of Japan: DPJ). Later also Ozawa, a prominent figure in the Ldp, left, forming his own small party, until, in 2003, has and his followers decided to join the DPJ. Here too quickly he assumed leadership roles until elected as president, a position he held from 2006 to 2009.
Ozawa dominates a group of 120 deputies. Therefore, his influence in recent presidential elections has been enormous. He was recently indicted by the prosecutor for having illegally acquired land in Tokyo and in September will face trial.
Ozawa’s first failure
The "shadow shogun", as Ozawa is called by the media, has had great influence on very recent elections for the president of the party, which, in Japan, are a prerequisite to apply for the post of prime minister.
The high number of candidates - five - is another element that contributes to the paradoxical nature of this election. In practice, only three had a chance to win. Seiji Maehara, the most popular, entered Parliament at 28.
Yoshihiko Noda (54), finance minister, a strong supporter of increased taxes to remedy the deterioration of public finances, and Banri Kaieda (62), head of the Ministry of Economy and Trade, the most powerful ministries. Kaieda was the candidate supported by Ozawa.
From the outset it became clear that the contestants were divided into two groups: "pro-Ozawa" and "anti-Ozawa". In other words, the choice was between the "politics of numbers" and "political ideals". 200 votes or more were needed to secure victory. Since Osawa leads a group of 120 parliamentarians, most believed Kaieda’s victory was assured. And in fact, the result of the first vote justified the prediction: 143 votes for Kaieda and 102 for Noda. The result was reversed on the second ballot because Maehara, faithful to a prior agreement with Noda, transferred the votes of his constituents to Noda, who was then declared the winner with 215 votes to Kaieda’s 177.
Indirect participation of citizens
Since this was an internal party matter, the population did not participate directly in these elections. But judging by the number and quality of articles on the subject which appeared in all major newspapers and the hours dedicated to it by the major television and radio networks, it appears that the population followed the event with great interest and critical logic.
Every weekend parliamentarians leave their residences in the capital to spend the weekend in the cities and countries of origin where they have conversations with voters on the important political issues certainly such as the election of a new party president and head of the government .
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